Does anyone have an easy routine for 12 week old with 6pm bedtime

[Kgraphicdesign]

Hi all,

My lo is 12 weeks on Tuesday and I could use some help. We have found (I think) that the earlier the bedtime is the better he sleeps at night. We are aiming for 6pm now but to ight was 6:30. Previously we have been anywhere from 6:45-7:45.

I can't find any easy routines for the earlier bedtime. We are working out our naps with the new bedtime but I have no idea what his day should look like.

Normally he wakes for the day at about 6:10am, but I think he should/can go later. With the 6pm bedtime he went to 6:45 when the same night would have seen him up shortly after 6am.

Also, silly question, but how do I know what his awake time should be for the day? He is usually unsettled from 4am, waking a few times between then and 6am. If I feed him at 4am I'm not sure if I should do a night feed at 6 to get him down again or just get up for the day.

I don't think there is too much point to me posting my day since I am looking for others' input in that area, but. Naps were on average 2x2h + 2x1h When bedtime was 7pm or later and awake was 6:10am. Today wake was 6:45am and bed was 6:30 pm with naps of 1x2h10m, 1x1h, 1x50m, 1x20m catnap(this one got screwed up).

Any help would be appreciated!

[amayzie]

Sounds like you are going well with things! You have seen this link?

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164253.0

AS far as knowing your wake up time, that varies. Often babies can't be expected to do much more than 12 hours night time sleep- you work on a 12 hour day and 12 hour night usually. So in bed at 6 possibly brings a 6am wake up. Lots of people have a sort of a 'cut off' for the morning- we always had a 6am cut off- so ake up before then it;s a feed in the dark and then back in bed, any later then it's up for the day.. BUT you can always try to get them back down if you like!

Are you finding that he is fighting the last nap? (you said it was screwed up)- if you are he might need to have a little more A time- especially in the second ha;f of the day to help him sleep better.

Some others may have some nice EASY routine samples for you- but you just have to do what works for you/your LO. It's a flexible routine!

[Kgraphicdesign]

Thanks for the reply! It doesn't feel like it is going well because it used to be better.

The last nap he fought only because we ran out of time. My mistake... I rushed it because I wanted him down earlier. I should have let him sleep.

Seems he is eating A LOT at night compared to before/day. He is more every two hours if he had his way. Sometimes I have to feed him during the day before signs of hunger because of his erratic naps.

We have also been battling ot for the past few days. I'm trying to cut his awake times but he often cries a bit when I try to put him down. We do have a nap routine... Any tips on how to break the ot cycle?

Am about to get up with him for the day. Seems he has a lot of gas at night even though he doesn't in the day. We have the usual meds for those but I don't see a difference really. Anyone else have this?

[amayzie]

How many night wakings are you getting at the moment?

[Kgraphicdesign]

Last night we had a total of 5(!) and 4 feeds, but again our day was wonky with naps (2 were 35m so waaaay overtired lo). We ended up putting his down too early for him (5:30) with only four hours of naps in the day. 3 nw were before 8, then the remainder were 4:30, 5:30. The whole night was shifted back an hour so I consider it a right off.  I fed him just before 6 and he slept to 7:30 so we'll see how today goes.

I re-read the awake time page and I think I have a better handle on how to address his naps. He napped two hours for nap 1 with me going in to replace his soose in between (he is a sucker but we swaddle his arms down in a double swaddle or he jerks awake). One issue at a time lol. The soose will go when we can let his have his hands to suck on when the Moro reflex is gone. It's not an issue at night if he drops it but rather acts as a pacifier in the wee hours when he has his night wakes.

He is on nap two and its the magical hour mark and no peeps so far. Fingers crossed he stays down. When he was napping semi regularly he always had 1 2hr nap where he slept through and one where he needed help transitioning.

That leaves his afternoon nap and his cat nap if it's needed. Would you recommend both or just the 3rd nap if it's an hour and he had 2x2hr naps? It's always so confusing at the end of the day!

Sorry for the essay. It's almost a mute point as I anticipate his growth spurt in the next few weeks anyways... Sigh (and yawn) 

[Kgraphicdesign]

Yesterday and last night were better. Awake at 7:30 (since I fed at 5:55), then great until his last nap. I kept awake time the same for all three since the first nap gave me 1h55m, the secon 1h45m. But nap three was only 35m which I thought was an overtired nap. He didn't fight going down, but could I be wrong? Is it maybe an under tired nap and I should try extending his awake time? I had him up for about 20 minutes then tried a nap extension in his swing (as we don't want him to associate super short naps with his crib like it seemed he started doing). I only got 20 mins from him.

BUT last night he didn't wake up except at his usual feed times: last feed at 6, bed at 6:30, 10:15ish, 1ish, and 4. I put his soose in while I set up but he put himself down for another 40 minutes. I then fed him at 4:40 and it's 7 now and he is wrestles but still sleeping!

I was going to keep his feeds at the same times until I broke the overtire cycle, then start moving them further apart again. Seems I can start now!

But what to do about that last nap...

[amayzie]

Ok- great nes! The last nap- You can do 2 things with it depending on when he wakes up from his third nap. Either-1 bring bed time forward and have him go for a bit of a longr stretch till an early bed time- eg. if he wakes up at 3:30 or something then this is far too long for nothing, but not enough for a cat nap- so bring bed time forward to 6:00 or so. OR your other option if there's WAY too long before bed time is to APOP- so hold him for that nap, or put him in the swing, or go for a walk ing the pram, or a drive in the car- something that will get him to sleep for some time- even 20-30 mins. This will recharge him and get him through to bed time. Your goal is to eliminate the last nap and get down to 2 long naps and a cat nap- in whatever order!

[Kgraphicdesign]

Thanks for the advice. Yesterday seemed to work out ok... He dropped his cat nap and we extended his awake time before bedtime. He didn't have one night waking except for his three feeds (early at 9:20/1/4). He went from 6:30-6:30 so no complaints.

I'll try your suggestion when we run into one of the scenarios. I think 2.5 hours for awake time before bed if eliminating the cat nap maybe a bit too much for him but I get what you are saying. I'm a bit paranoid about making him overtired before bedtime. I need to learn to relax lol.

Thanks again for the help!

[amayzie]

Let me know how you go!!